Wyndham Reveals More About New Extended-Stay Brand

Here’s a sampling of what the Daily Lodging Report provided to its readers this past week. If you’re not a subscriber, you should be. Don’t wait. Sign up now here.

Sunday, March 20

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. completed the sale of the 368-room Embassy Suites Chicago and the 361-room Hilton Garden Inn Chicago Downtown/Magnificent Mile. The Chicago Hotels were sold for a combined gross sale price of $129.5 million. The company’s operations for January and early February 2022 were impacted by group cancellations and lower business volumes as a result of a surge in Covid case counts. SHO said that total portfolio occupancy as of mid-March 2022 is at the highest level since the onset of the pandemic. SHO said they have begun repurchasing shares again. On March 7, 2022, The Company announced that it had elected to terminate the covenant relief period associated with the amended debt agreements governing its credit and term loan facilities and senior unsecured notes. Prior to the termination of the covenant relief period, the Company was restricted from repurchasing its own stock. From March 8 through March 16, 2022, the Company repurchased 3.2 million shares for a total repurchase price of $35.1 million. The Company has $464.9 million remaining under its existing share repurchase authorization.

Skift Note: Sunstone has seen its recovery driven by a rebound in leisure travel as business travel volumes as like many hotel companies, it won’t see a full recovery in business travel anytime soon.

Monday, March 21

The Singapore Hotel Association said the vaccinated travel lanes have largely benefited the tourism scene but the spillover effects are not equally distributed yet. In the opposite of the hotel recovery in the US, Singapore is seeing a stronger rebound in business travel while leisure travel is still slow to return. The SHA said they have been seeing healthy arrivals from the United States, Europe and Australia. The average length of stay has increased beyond two to three nights compared with 2019 figures. Marriott International said they are seeing business travel in Singapore return to 25% of pre-pandemic levels and expects this to slowly increase as traveler confidence returns. The Garcha Group said they have seen occupancy at their hotels rise by 10% since the VTLs were launched, mostly from business travelers but said they are seeing more Singaporeans thinking of traveling abroad as global travel rules ease but do not see equal demand for travelers to Singapore. Marina Bay Sands noted an overall uptick in bookings but said it was from their key leisure markets while also seeing increased interest in business travel. Pan Pacific Hotels Group said about 44% of its bookings for its Pan Pacific Singapore hotel this month came from international guests, compared with 22% last month.

Skift Note: Vaccinated travel lanes have driven a rebound in business travel — but not one in the leisure sector — largely because corporate travelers are the only visitors to Singapore who can afford to use them.

Tuesday, March 22

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts unveiled new details about its upcoming economy extended-stay hotel brand. Among them, newly awarded contracts to develop 50 new construction projects with its first two partners, Sandpiper Hospitality and Gulf Coast Hotel Management. Operating under the working title “Project ECHO”, the all new-construction brand fills whitespace within the larger Wyndham Hotels & Resorts portfolio while strategically expanding the company into a segment that has seen record growth and resiliency. Wyndham has been developing the brand since summer 2021. The purpose-built, 124-room Project CHO prototype requires just under two acres of land, has a highly competitive cost per key, and features multiple characteristics that intentionally separate it from traditional economy brands. With 50 hotels already in the pipeline, 25 each from Sandpiper and Gulf Coast over the next five years, Wyndham is looking at additional growth opportunities. The brand expects to open its first hotel in 2023 and is actively talking to additional, multi-unit operators with experience in the segment. Wyndham has assembled a dedicated leadership and operations support team around Project ECHO, one deeply rooted in experience with extended-stay brands. The team is led by Vice President of Operations Dan Leh.

Skift Note: Wyndham, like many hotel companies, are investing in extended-stay brands because they tend to perform well in periods of both economic boom and bust.

Wednesday, March 23

Radisson Hotel Group Americas unveiled the new Radisson Inn & Suites brand, an upper mid-scale, limited-service hotel brand intended to defy the repetition and predictability of this hotel segment. The Radisson Hotel Group Americas team developed the brand as a companion to its Country Inn & Suites by Radisson brand to deliver guests the same feeling of belonging and being looked after while being away from home, but with modern décor and amenities. The owner-driven Radisson Inn & Suites brand features furniture, fixture, and equipment selections that are timeless and modern while cost-effective and long-lasting. Radisson Inn & Suites offers open and friendly lounges social spaces allowing guests that use the public space in a way that fits their lifestyle. In response to the growing social network of gamers, influencers, and other content creation professionals, the Radisson Inn & Suites design delivers a one-of-a-kind Creative Content Studio featuring monitors, gaming chairs, and a high-speed Internet connection for social media content creation or video game play. The Radisson Inn & Suites brand will drive significant incremental growth for the company across the Americas in Canada, the U.S., and the Caribbean and Latin America region.

Skift Note: Radisson’s new brand, which targets the growing segment of gamers, is a welcome step for a company that needed to differentiate its brands.

Thursday, March 24

Marriott International has signed an agreement with Sunnyland Investment Group to open the first Marriott Executive Apartments in Australia. The 180 key all suite hotel will be part of a mixed-use development comprising 244 fully residential apartments with premium amenities and services.  Construction of the $170 million project is due to begin in 2024 and will be completed by mid-2026. The apartments will be located just three kilometers from Melbourne CBD and will feature studios, 1 bedroom and dual key apartments with separate sleeping, living and working areas, as well as gourmet kitchens. Marriott has added three hotels to Melbourne this year – W Melbourne, Melbourne Marriott Hotel Docklands and Courtyard by Marriott Melbourne Flagstaff Gardens, bringing the total number of hotels in Melbourne to eight.  Marriott currently operates 27 hotels in Australia across 12 brands.

Skift Note: Marriott’s further expansion in Melbourne comes about a month after Australia fully reopened to vaccinated foreign visitors.